Into the Wild

Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst, 2007
Julie, daughter of Zel (as in Rapunzel), lives with the Wild under her bed, mostly harmless, turning shoes into seven-league boots and magic rings. Her grandma, Gothel, runs the Wishing Well Motel and guards the wishing well, the last remnant of the Wild not under Julie’s bed. The Wild sounds fun to her friend, Gillian, but Julie knows better. When the Wild is wished out from under the bed, begins to overtake Julie’s New England town, and has already recaptured her mom and grandma, Julie must try to rescue them. She is the only one who knows enough about the old fairytale stories, without being one of them, to make it through the Wild’s tricks and restore her life back to normal, even if that means having to put up again with mean schoolmate Kristen and embarrassing family friends, such as Cindy and Snow’s seven.

For me, the premise and summary work better than the actually reading of it. I couldn’t ever quite suspend disbelief. The idea of the Wild as a conscience entity seemed too abstract to fully engage me. And the writing is very episodic: too choppy for my tastes.

Some memory-jogging tags: Jolly green giant. Swan brothers. Hansel and Gretel. Princess and the pea. Poisoned apple. Snow’s seven. Puss-in-boots. Hair salon. Cindy is Cinderella. Goldie is Goldilocks. Mom is Rapunzel. Absent father. Wish the wish that is dearest to your heart.

MS Rating: Great.